William Dembski is changing jobs. For a year, he's been teaching in Louisville (while commuting from Waco) at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; now he's going to be closer to home with a position at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth:
Dembski will become research professor of philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Southwestern announced the appointment Wednesday. The Southern Baptist Convention operates both seminaries.
What is a "research professor", especially at an academic institution that does no research? Well, it's an empty position. It's the same title he had at Baylor after the Polanyi Center was shut down, where he didn't actually do anything at all. Essentially, it means that the Southern Baptist Convention is going to be his benefactor, paying him to write his books about ID. But remember, ID has nothing to do with religion at all.
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"Research professor of philosophy? Would someone please bring me up to date on the latest research done in the area of philosophy? Are we looking for experimental proof of "I think, therefore I am," or what?
What is a "research professor", especially at an academic institution that does no research?
Reading tea leaves or entrails, obviously.
Hey, we philosophers do research! (Mostly it involves libraries and Thinking Very Hard -- no actual brains in vats or people chained in caves.)
Not all philosophers are Dembski. This is a case where it's approriate for you to hate the player, not the game.
Research professor of philosophy? Would someone please bring me up to date on the latest research done in the area of philosophy? Are we looking for experimental proof of "I think, therefore I am," or what?
To be fair, there are theoretical forms of research. Not everything is empirical. Research in disciplines like philosophy and literature can involve analyzing past works, or synthesizing new ideas from those works. The real problem is that ID is obviously philosophy parading as science, and its proponents are too disingenuousness to admit it.
Those wacky Texans.
Must be Spring is in the air or something...
Dembski's down there for a reason.
Dembski's not the first christian apologist to hold a research philosopher position. I remember the white knight of christianity, William Lane Craig, being one as well.
On the other side of the fence, does Dawkins still do scientific research, or is he a full time Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science?